Was the Treaty of Versailles Just?
Was the Treaty of Versailles Just? By Richard Ward [email protected] Following the Armistice of November 1918, the Paris Peace Conference at Versailles brought together the Allied powers to decide upon the finer points of the agreement set out at the Armistice. Each representative had different priorities and these conflicted at times, making the acquisition of a peace settlement all the more difficult. Some aimed to simply punish Germany for starting the war, others set out to cripple Germany to such an extent that he could never present a threat to the surrounding countries. Some misguided representatives went to Versailles with the belief that it was purely a way of rewarding the Allied countries for winning the war. The objective of Versailles was, in fact, none of these. The aim of Versailles was to establish a workable and just treaty that would ensure lasting peace in Europe. The three major powers at Versailles were the USA (Wilson), Great Britain (Lloyd George) and France (Clemenceau). At the beginning of Versailles, Italy considered itself a major player. This misconception was put to rest as soon as the big three told the Italians that Fiume would not be made a part of Italy. The three countries each felt differently about what should be done to Germany, and their representatives were obliged to demonstrate their country's feelings as well as
Was the Treaty of Versailles Just?
Was the Treaty of Versailles Just? In 1919 the mood between France and Germany was very bad. The French wanted to get everything they could out of Germany. They felt that it was Germany who had started the war and therefore it was Germany that should pay for everything. The French minister Geddes had referred to it as "squeezing lemons" because he wanted to squeeze Germany for everything they had. The reason he felt like this was that after the last War, the Germans had treated France just as badly so he wanted to do to them what they had done to France. He also knew that if the Germans had won then they would have demanded just as much money. At this time the big three were Clemenceau, the French Prime Minister, Lloyd George, the English Prime Minister, and Wilson, the American President. Clemenceau was a cynic and believed that they should make Germany pay for everything they had done. His main aim was to establish a buffer state in the Rhineland, which would give him a natural defence line if the Germans tried to attack. Lloyd George was a realist who believed that they should not make Germany pay too much because someday if Germany re-built their Armies then they would want revenge. However in public he wanted to show that he wanted a 'Hard Treaty' that would make Germany pay. Wilson was an idealist that believed he could make the world perfect. He agreed with Lloyd
Was The Treaty Of Versailles Justified?
Was The Treaty Of Versailles Justified? The Treaty Of Versailles was an agreement between 32 nations deciding the fate of Germany. It was needed badly as war torn Europe was in turmoil. France had been devastated by the effects of war and sought to cripple Germany. The British Prime Minister, Lloyd George, realised the severe implications that this could have and so wanted a more lenient peace treaty. The American public had little interest in Post War Europe but their President, Woodrow Wilson, wanted a Germany that would make a good neighbour in Europe, hence his fourteen points. To reach a compromise a meeting was needed at the small palace of Versailles, not far from the French capital, Paris. Here the leaders of 'The Big Four', Orlando, Clemenceau, Wilson and George, representing Italy, France, Britain and America respectively, tried to find a lasting peace for Europe. This meeting was intended to bring stability ad peace into a crippled Europe. The date set was June 28th, 1919 and the members of 32 nations met up, in a council of 10, to agree on terms of peace for Germany, however none of the defeated nations were present at this meeting including Russia whose Government was not acknowledged by the Allies. The treaty was to last for 12 months and was to be a long and arduous task, even impeding Wilson's health, but what was the outcome and was the treaty justified?
Was the Treaty of Versailles unfair to Germany?
Natalie Barnicott 10 A Was the Treaty of Versailles unfair to Germany? I personal think that the Treaty of Versailles was unfair to Germany in a variety of different ranges these include, the War Guilt Clause, Reparations, Disarmament, Territory losses and the fact that they had no say in the peace settlement. Germany were treated like children in the Treaty of Versailles they had no say to what the settlement was, they were just told to sign it (this was known as the dictated peace or in German Diktat). The Germans were not given the chance to decide their own future. This was against Woodrow Wilson idea that every country should have the right of Self Determination. The Germans were very upset about this because it was only the Winning sides that had the right of Self Determination. If the Germans had more rights and could put ideas forward then, then maybe there would not have been as many problems later. I think this is very unfair to Germany because the winning sides were making Self Determination a big thing for the other winning sides but when it came to the losing sides this was not applied Germany should have been allowed the same rights as the winning sides but there choices should have just been monitored by the winning sides. One of the main things that Germany was angry about in the peace settlement was the fact that they had to sign the War Guilt Clause
Was appeasement a mistake?
Was Appeasement a mistake? Appeasement was policy used by the French and British during 1993 in hope to sustain Hitler within further rebellions, as Hitler had disobeyed the treaty of Versailles by breaking many stated laws such as no re-armament plus more. In my opinion the policy turned out poor and defective in the starting stages but turned out satisfying in the end for the Brits and French. There were many reasons why appeasement has been seen as a mistake. Firstly Appeasement gave Hitler confidence to progress to demand more and more seeing as Britain and France weren't stepping in however this could've been a trap for Hitler to continue to push the limits until he crossed the line and as he had under estimated Britain and France seeing they weren't willing to stop him early he wouldn't have thought them that big a problem until it was too late for example Britain and France could've acted early whilst Hitler wasn't at his peak but instead they appeased him to a critical stage . The quality of this statement is weak because this was the early stages when probably Britain and France hadn't looked at Hitler as threatening since he hadn't broken any major rules...yet. Secondly Britain lost powerful allies who could've helped Britain but instead ended in the grasp of Hitler for example Hitler invaded Poland and Czechoslovakia which both have vast coal and factories
Why did war break out in 1914?
Why Did War Break out in 1914? Jack Richards This war rooted from the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and (less importantly) his wife. This happened on 28th June 1914, as the Archduke bought his wife on her first official trip from their home country Austria, to Bosnia; which, to Serbia upset- as Austria had just gained Bosnia to its empire. The Black Hand gang of Hungary were responsible for this assassination. There were many problems with the assassination. At first, one of the assassins was too shocked too shoot; another forgets the ten second delay on his bomb; when the person who finally shot the duke jumped into a nearby river- it was far too shallow and the poison he had used had passed its date. Yet there were many reasons that helped this group to follow through with this killing, but in the end- it was down to luck and being in the right place at the right time. However, the Archduke insisted on having his same open top car that he always used and only had police roaming the streets. One of these policemen gave the route to these assassins, and so the Black Hand gang knew exactly where this open top car would be going- and as a result; lined themselves along it. But ultimately, it was the fact that the driver took a wrong turning- to where a member of the Black Hand gang (who was not part of this shooting), who had just bought a sandwich standing
Why did war break out in 1914?
Sam Tappenden, 3L 8th October Why did war break out in 1914? TRENDS There were many rivalries between countries around the time of 1914 and before. These made strained relations between countries. One of the rivalries was to do with The Navies of Germany and England. Even before the twentieth century, Britain Navy was established as the most powerful navy. No two navies put together would be the size of it. Because of the geographical position of Britain, with a large navy she would rule the seas and would not worry about invasion. This meant they would not have to have a very big army. This is why the navy was a big priority to Britain. At this stage, Germany had only been in existence for eighteen years and was not likely to compete with Britain, because they had no navy. But then a new Secretary of State for Germany's admiralty was elected- Tirpitz. The next year after this - 1898, the first naval law was passed. The law stated that nineteen battleships should be built in the next seven years. The plans for the fleet were increased to an even larger extent in 1900, which included twenty-four battleships by 1920. Britain was in panic, but in 1906 Britain was still further ahead when they launched the new Dreadnought Battleships, which were quicker, heavier and thicker-armoured than
WHY DID WAR BREAK OUT IN 1914
WHY DID WAR BREAK OUT IN 1914 WHY DID WAR BREAK OUT IN 1914? The Great War in 1914-18 began in August 1914. The causes of the war has been debated by politicians and historians ever since. One of a few things they have seemed to agree on is that the war was a result of many different complex factors working together. In Europe in 1014 it seemed very tense, this happened to spark off a war, this was then a result of millions killed. The war was fought between rival alliances of European powers: In 1878, Germany and Austria - Hungary formed an alliance9 the dual alliance) that gave them great strength in the centre of Europe. In 1892, the French and the Russians formed their own strong alliance (the dual entente) that meant Germany had an unfriendly power on each side. Soon afterwards, Germanys most powerful soldier, general stiffen, drew up a plan that would allow Germany to beat France very quickly in any future war. This would then free most German troops to fight Russia in the east. By the early 1900s, the alliances had developed. The dual alliance had become the triple alliance with Italy (although Italy stayed out of the war in 1914). In 1907, Britain joined Russia and France to form the triple entente. Britain was much less committed to this alliance than Russia or France. The advantages of these alliances was that it gave the great powers a sense of security. The
Why did World War one break out in 1914?
Why did World War one break out in 1914? In this essay I am going to explain why world war one happened. There are many causes, both long term and short term for example the rivalry between Germany and France because of the Franco Prussian war, and the assassination of archduke Franz Ferdinand. It is hard to tell which is the most important cause, because lots of countries had tensions with each other, and the war took place because of all these. One long-term cause of world war one was the fact there were two established Alliance systems- the triple Alliance and the triple entente. This was where countries all over the world were backing each other up, each member of the alliances promised to help its allies if a country belonging to the other alliance attacked them. The Triple Entente consisted of Great Britain, France and Russia (formed in1907) The triple Alliance consisted of Germany, Italy and Austria-hungry (formed in 1882). This was an important cause because without it there probably would not have been a 'world war' just war between individual countries, because many different countries were backing each other, the opposition feared, and made their alliance bigger. This helped cause war because if one country got into bother the others got involved. Another long-term cause was the rivalry between Germany and France; this was because in 1870-1871 there was a war
Why did the League of Nations Fail?
Why did the League of Nations Fail ? The absence of the United States definitely made a difference to the League - it was the only major world power outside the League. The presence of USA would not have made such a great deal of difference in the thirties because of the Wall Street crash and ensuing depression. It could be argued that the USA could never have made the League work in the long-term because there would always be a strong public motion against its involvement. Washington's theory of isolationism was deeply ingrained in the average American's psyche. Even if the USA had been part of the League in the beginning, it is highly probable that they would have withdrawn interest after October 1929, if not withdrawn altogether. Having said all that, the remaining members of the League could have combined and made a force to be reckoned with. Collectively a powerful unit, progress was halted by Japan and Italy turning aggressive. Half the major members of the League were bent on expanding their empires. That is not to excuse Britain or France - Britain was a few years ahead on the empire-building front and France was obsessed with the integrity of its German borders. Britain was concerned with maintaining it's empire; Gandhi was campaigning for Indian independence and British overseas territories were under threat from one power or another. France rearmed on a major scale
